Inktank printers have improved since this video was made in 2022
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- UPDATE: Epson have updated their policies regarding these printers since the making of this video, and now offer a service to replace the inkpads. epson.com/Supp...
Are ink tank printers actually good value? What happens when the ink sponge is full?
Printer disassembly footage from The Tech Buyer's Guru
• Canon's Megatank: Yet ...
UPDATE: Epson have updated their policies regarding these printers since the making of this video, and now offer a service to replace the inkpads. epson.com/Support/wa00369
Well, it seems better than nothing. Some other brands offer so called "maintenance cartridges" and I cant decide which is much worse than the other as they put chips on those cartridges. After quite a while, you have to change these cartridges as a whole not just the pads because of the chip. You simply cannot drill and attach some pipes to your printer to let the waste ink goes out. Even if you do, you still have to deal with the chip, now, you have to buy a 3rd party cheaper chips to bypass it. They should have added a container just like ink tank they have already added so we can simply drain it away, but none of them are going to do this. They are just after our money. Finally, I suggest not using this service for anyone, they offer one time service only, and it seems like, if you get the same warning again, your printer will be garbage even if it still functions.
There exists a duvios software paypal 10 bucks to reset them. Seems it works. So a official reset also exists nice to know, i just mailed epson to ask if there was a fix yet before buying 😂...ffs enabling north American customers to continue printing for a limited time..that mail was a good thing as im in Europe..
@@erdi7772 Their higher end eco tanks have maintenance cartridges which are like $10-25 every like 30k-50k prints which is so negligible it shouldn't even matter.
Almost bought one of these, then just few weeks before I was to buy it (was saving), the spongegate came up. Dodged a bullet here, now I'm happy with my Brother DCP-T420W which doesn't even seem to have an inkpad (not actually needed?) for almost a year. I have yet to run out of ink the printer came with, and I print often, full pages in color.
@@UltimatePerfection Unfortunately all inkjet printers have waste ink pad/container, your brother printer have that too. You can search on youtube, you'll find dozens of videos about it
Basically going from one scam to another. Well done, printer industry.
they must have learned a lot from the cable industry, phone industry, food.. medical.. politics.. this world is screwed
No surprise, extracting maximum profit from consumers is a core tenet of capitalism.
unfortunately, this seems to me the case.
100%
@@gadget2622 🤡 whereas in socialism you can't even get a printer. creating a good product is what causes a company to succeed. this won't bode well for their sales.
I don't understand how every single thing is getting better like laptops, phones, every other gadget and yet we still have to buy these crappy printers that are still just as awful as they were 2 decades ago!!
Because people were still paying them so why change
Thank you.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
The issues in this video are purely business and profit related, not technical.
Cartels work that way.
As far as I can tell, the ink waste pad does not have a sensor. Instead, the system calculates how much ink has been dumped into the pad. When this counter runs out, it ascertains that the pad is full and throws a fit. It will not print again until this counter is reset through their proprietary software.
I was a long-time Canon printer user and have spent a ton on replacement ink cartridges. In 2021, I replaced it with an Epson EcoTank (L3150). Two years later, I'm on my 2nd black ink bottle but still on the first batch of colored inks. It has a user-serviceable ink waste pad and I was told that the service center does the reseting for free, or at most, for a little money. Suffice to say, I've never stressed on printer ink since. We just print what we need and never worry about it.
The printers have certainly improved since this video was made.
I've got the same model as you so I'll grab the opportunity to ask you if you are satisfied with the colour prints of this model. Mine never gave me nice true colours. Always darker and not vibrant. Terrible photo prints too.
@@orcamumIt's a general purpose multi-function printer, IMO. I have printed on photo papers a few times with it and it doesn't look the best.... but not the worst either. My previous Canon inkjet prints very nice pictures but I got rid of it because I'm spending a ton of money on ink cartridges. That said, my current Epson is not a deal-breaker as I bought it primarily for my kids to print school stuff. Me and my wife use it to copy/scan/print bills, IDs, documents, and whatnots. Photos, not so much.
@@bialywasaty9147 On older (around pre-2020 to pre-2022 depending on the manufacturer) models, yes. They'd throw the killswitch after a set number of cleaning cycles had been run, which was absolutely a scam. Canon's newer ones have user-replaceable sponges though, like the Epson model orlypalomar is talking about.
@@turquoisecoastcomputershe bought his printer in 2021, way before your video came out 🤨.
Thanks a lot. I am thoroughly convinced that the inkjet printer and ink market is definitely corrupt.
100%
Welcome to Planet Earth where corruption is the rule not the exception in all major industries.
@@celaeno919👏🏻👏🏻👏🏼✔️💯🔊
Ive just binged a load of 'inkjet vs laserjet' videos. This one is the best. Basically i found out why I don't need a printer. So much cheaper to outsource for my casual needs. Thankyou
I've been doing IT work for 30+ years...and these days I can't recommend inkjets for anyone. High operating costs and poor reliability just aren't worth it. I've gone with B&W laser printers for just about everything. Last week I fired up a laser printer which hadn't been touched in 3+ years. The first page wasn't the best quality, but everything after that was fine. Try doing that with any inkjet printer.
Then there's the cost. I'm getting about $0.0015/page for the laser printers using generic cartridges. It was $0.13/page for my inkjets.
@@grayrabbit2211Sarcasm: nothing beats losing the only copy you have of something important to water/moisture damage. That was the last straw with inkjets for me, the only use I have for my HP All in Wonder why I bought it inkjet is as a scanner.
Great to hear!
Lasers are definitely a better option in most cases.
There are a lot of inkjets out there that are just scanners now!
Do the HP Ink Tank printers have the same issue with wasting ink on a sponge? And becoming non-user-repairable when the sponge is filled?
I have an old 7-year-old brother who let you reset the counter. I'm interested to hear about the new brother and HP, I don't think I will change to something other than Brother, 7 years > 10K pages, and still works perfectly with refill $10 100ml ink.
Personally I wouldn't buy an HP printer out of principle, based on the stories I've heard.
- Refusing to *scan* because it hasn't got *ink* cartridges in it.
- Refusing to print with HP branded printer cartridges which still have ink in them because the user cancelled their ink subscription.
- Automatic firmware updates making the printer refuse to print for stupid reasons
WHAT A SCAM! ...I hate EPSON!!!
I still have a Epson Stylus NX400 Series printer from years ago😠😠😠 I CAN'T USE!!! ...MORE WASTED MONEY!!
I have the Epson 4850 I've had the printer for 3 years and I'm still using ink that came with the printer. If you change out the maintenance box every 6 months or so for 20 bucks or less you cut down on me clogged. Page 500 for it I guarantee I would have gone through over $500 in ink cartridges well worth it would buy another one again tomorrow
On the face of your analysis, it would seem that the 2850 with Ecotank at $500 is too expensive compared to the 3100 cartridge at $99. First thing is that currently the 2850 or comparable epson tank printer is closer to $300 but is still a lot more expensive than the 3100. In actuality the 3100 is under priced based upon its performance value - ummm, wonder why? It's so you continue to buy these over priced ink cartridges which over the life ot the printer will have far exceeded what you would pay for the tank style and ink. This business model was introduced by HP... You know, you buy the printer new for not much more than a set of replacement ink cartridges. It's the same idea that a cell phone carrier will almost give you a top line smart phone for just obliging yourself to a minimum length contract that will cost you additionally the separate cost of the phone if you cancel. If you were only going to use the printer a limited amount of time, maybe the cheap printer would work out well for you but if you use it regularly it will turn out to be much more expensive replacing the cartridges. I am aware of the sponge issue but have seen this situation addressed without having to discard the printer and while the tank printers are not as ink efficient due to built in maintenance, they're still way cheaper than the cartridges. And a final comment, the 2850 model is not so much overpriced as the 3100 is under priced for as a hook, in fact, this business model could still work if they gave the printers away.
Great news that the manufacturers have addressed the sponge issues.
I question the lack of ethics of the design engineers who make these things. Just make refillable ink cartridges that can be cleaned.
100%
We need a class action lawsuit against the printer manufacturers.
You'd have the population of the first world on your side..
With regards to the sponges, even non tank printers have them and once triggered you have to have them replaced but you have to take them to a service center, assuming you have one in your town.
I take issue with your conclusions. I have had my Epson ET-2850 for almost 4 years. I have recently put in my second bottle of black ink. It's clear that I don't use my printer as much as a business might. Of course the free world lives in capitalist economies and so few companies do customers a favor. The $99 printers you talk about are only at that price because the companies intend to make money selling ink cartridges. They clog as well, so that complaint is not valid in my opinion. In 4 years, at $50 per set of cartridges, I would have easily spent more for a cartridge based printer. Epson probably does start with a proven design and then they install the tank system. For me, my printing costs (private home use) has been much cheaper because in 4 years I have only bought 1 bottle of black ink beyond the ones that came with it. Plus, now the maintenance tank problem (which I have not had) has been resolved because you can replace the maintenance tank. There is a software available to reset the printer if that is needed after maintenance tank replacement. Just my opinion.
Short answer, based on ownership of a Canon Pixma G3200: absolutely, positively yes. Why is there no way to reset the ink spill counter? I replaced the absorber pads, but now I can't reset the counter to enable the printer to operate again. Major fail, very dissatisfied customer here.
Sorry to hear you are having problems.
Dunno if this helps but Turn off Printer.
PUT PRINTER IN SERVICE MODE:
Hold STOP then POWER
Release STOP Button
Press STOP 5 times
Release POWER button
(Wait for green stable green light)
PRINT PRINTER INFO BEFORE RESET:
Press STOP 3 times
Press POWER 1 time
(wait - printer should print full page, second line D= should be greater than zero)
RESET INK COUNTER:
Press STOP 5 times
Press POWER 1 time
(wait - Printer should print 1 Line)
PRINT PRINTER INFO AFTER RESET:
Press STOP 3 times
Press POWER 1 time
(wait - printer should print full page, second line D= should be zero)
Press POWER 1 time
Best of luck😅
I noticed the sheer lack of features for the price for these tank printers; no duplex printing, no auto feeding, and slower print speeds. No nice LCD screens except for the very expensive models.
Yep, $5 ink tanks stuck of the side of the cheapest printer they have.
Good points, I didn't know about the ink sponge but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I like how you kept things in perspective even though it's a negative review. These printers may be low-end for a business but they are definitely a step up for the average home user.
I've had an Epson ET-4760 for 3-4 years now and still have over half the ink left. My kids use it more than anybody, but when I do need it for something important it's ready to go and isn't going to run out of ink halfway through the job. That alone is worth a few extra bucks to me, letting my kids print as much as they want AND not running out of ink. We threw away 4 or 5 cheap non-functioning printers when we finally brought this tank home, that's $90-$100 a piece not counting the hundreds I've spent on cartridges.
I suspect that even if one bought this for a startup business, it would more than pay for itself over the course of it's lifetime. If your business didn't make money with this thing then it's probably not the printer's fault, and if you did make money and still aren't happy with it, then it's time to invest in better equipment. That's my take on it, every tool has it's place and you should be using the right one for the job.
Glad it is working out for you, hopefully you don't experience any of the issue in the video.
There is a trick that all inkjet printers can benefit from. Print a full color page once a week to prevent the head from clogging. Most of the latest models have a replaceable ink sponge - the early models didn't. Inform yourself before you buy.
100% good advice. I have had a lot of success with Brother injet printers.
Head clogging is an issue if you use the printer sparingly...no matter which tech you use (cartridge or ink tank). The only way to avoid it is to print at least twice a week. You will waste ink either way. With the cartridge you waste more expensive ink. With ink tanks you waste less expensive ink (though the printer companies take higher upfront investment for ink tank). The guy who has made this video has not done proper research and does not have data to assert that the ink tanks are worse than cartridge printers because they have ink tubes.....
I have a pixma cannon inktank. Paid $120, ink is $20 for all 4 colours. Printed 7000 pages already, no hassles. Have only had to top up once so far.
I have the Epson ET3600 and I’ve been happy with it. I don’t use it much I just print the bills and oddments. I turn off the printer when I’m not using it so it doesn’t go through a cleaning cycle.
My friends don’t have printers and visit me to print and scan.
Over a few years, I have just now topped up the tanks with last of the ink.
Great to hear!
I get frustrated at negative reviews. You are slating epson but the printer you are showing is a canon. Epson have a maintenance box that catches the ink that I have replaced once. I aways print a colour print at least once a week to keep print heads clean. I think before people put videos out they should do there research. Like all machines they need maintenance it's user error not machine error most of the time. Canon does have a problem with there printer but clean and factory reset normally solves the issue's
You are definitely right about maintenance, but if you read some of the comments here you can see that some of the issues people are having fall well outside of maintenance.
We have suffered first hand, we bought a Canon inktank printer and here is the kicker we were using it almost every day and still experienced clogs every few months! And we were also experiencing the dreaded 5B00 error meaning our waste ink sponge is full and needs to be replaced. Luckily we can temporarily bypass the error message and now we bought a new printer instead..
which printer did you end up getting?
@@Frank-pn4ud We had to resort to using an Epson ink tank for now till we see a better solution. If you only need to print black and white a monochrome laser printer is ideal but make sure to know how much the replacement toner cartridges cost as in some countries they can be very expensive. Stay away from Pantum laser printers as their cartridges are very expensive, I heard Brother laser printers are better but your mileage may vary.
Brother laser printers are a great option.
@@turquoisecoastcomputersI would always go for Xerox or Ricoh They are built way better.
if you buy it brand new and cut the reject used ink hose and fit it in a bottle outside of the printer before the first use, does it trigger the ''shut down'' mecanisim or it work perfectly ?
I am not sure, I have seen a few videos on youtube of people doing that, but it would be dependant on the make and model. I have also notice manufacturers are starting to make the waste bottles and sponges replacable.
If you are looking for a cheap priner buy the cartruges one and a kit to convert it into a inktank. And please buy generic color ink, is just the same thing for a fifth of a price and reuse the ink in the sponge as black one. There are many tutorials out there to make this modifications
When I went to buy an ink cartridge for my Epson it was $80 at Walmart so instead for $10 I bought some black ink off of Amazon injected it myself and save $70
That sounds like a better option.
Now, compare the quality of print. 😂
Very informative and honest content. Had Canon G4000 which was expensive when I bought it, thinking this is the best cheapest solution for my casual printing. I found myself doing maintenance (flush the ink) to get decent printing.
I eventually gave up after 6 years, and after paying service center a good amount of money for sponge replacement, and many DIY attempt.
We had 2 x HP Pagewide Pro 477dw printers. We used non HP ink. One lasted 725,000 pages and the other 492,000 pages. The waste ink collector washed out in warm water every 200,000 pages. The printers cost £290 each and the ink worked out at about 1.4 pence per page. We would have 2 more but HP stopped making them :( I guess with non HP ink being so cheap they did not recover the true cost of making the printers?
So I have to ask, why not just put a tank in there instead of a sponge? User serviceable, easy solution. Or was extorsion the original goal?
I think it is so users don't see that the "cheap" bottles of ink they are buying are infact not that cheap, as they would see it get poured in the top and an come dripping out the other side into a waste tank.
Can't someone just hack a printer so that we can refill the ink cartridges and the cartridge sensor gives false information to the printer?
I think some people have had success with that, but it is outside of the ability of a lot of users and they end up having to replace the printer.
I was planning to buy HP inkjet 416 printer 😮😮😮
People do seem to be having more success with the HP models.
i have an epson ecotank 2750 purchased in 2017, i've must have printed 15-20k pages and only purchased the ink 2 or 3 times $69 at costco.. i print daily, the only thing i dont like its very slow, but i have one of the first ecotank pritners made. Compare to my Cannon laser jet, i must have replaced the tonner 3 x in first year.
Good to know yours is working out. The manufacturers have made some improvements since this video was made.
if you use printer alot and on a regular basis, those Eco tanks are absolutely worth it, it's better than anything else I have used in the past, this included a handful of color and black and white Laser printers, and a few ink jets. they are a bit more expensive compared with your cartridge printers, but we have used the provided ink for 2 years and still have another year of ink left. I have the ET 8550 and it prints beautiful A3 photos as well as documents.
it all depends on how much is a lot.
It does seem they perform better if they are used regularly.
@@turquoisecoastcomputers set as weekly reminder to print a few pixels on a piece of paper. Automate habits...
Epson print quality, I use the thing almost daily, is good but with some limitations (1) book format printing has white outer borders that seem impossible to adjust (2) the drying of the ink takes half a week and even then when you touch it it leaves off ink on your thumb or index finger.
(3) but worst of all any playing cards you print don't shuffle, there is too much friction on the paper somehow, even with smooth 120gsm, the ink adds to the paper friction in contrast to laserjets.
@@turquoisecoastcomputersyou need to print all 4 inks at least once a week. Otherwise it dries up and clogs
Why are you showing the ink sponge from a cannon printer featured on someone else’s Chanel.
Because I did not have any of that footage to hand when I made the video. You can see from the video description that I have permission from that creator and have linked his video.
I don’t know I have to disagree with what he’s saying I have an ET 4750 have had it for 4 years maybe we had it before the pandemic we use it constantly I have a house full of pictures my wife printed they look great and I have bought ink once it seems to last forever and like I said it’s way past a year old so did I just get lucky?
I am very happy with it go figure
It's great your printer is working for you, but as you can see from the comments, there are plenty of people experiencing the issues expressed in the video.
For longevity preventing clogged is to print several times a week. Second preventing clogged is to use factory inks, using third party inks will 100% clogged the printer. It’s true about the sponge getting filled and printer will not work. To prevent this issue is to buy a ecotank printers that don’t use a sponge but one that has waste tank that is replaceable. Otherwise, in my opinion ecotank printers has worked for me for years and very little issues.
Do newer Canons (eg. Pixma G540) have less planned obsolescence?
I linked this video to my mom before watching it, since she was wondering about "Smart Tank Printers", and you came to the same conclusion that I originally tried to tell her years ago: Color Laser Printer!
I have learned to be content with a basic laser, solved all my inkjet cartridge and ink bleeding issues, very few things need need color anyway.
Black and white laser are great value if they meet your requirements.
I basically lucked out on a Brother J470DW which works with dirt cheap generic (not Brother) cartridges, I've had the machine for over 7 years, longer than I've had any other printer
Brother make great printers!
It's a conspiracy. I managed to reset the purge tank several times, the latest after a complete line cleaning purge to remove air bubbles (no yellow flowed) on a Canon G4210. Yes, you must print a test pattern each day to prevent a nozzle cleaning cycle. This is BS. I will know when it's time to send this unit to landfill when I see a puddle of ink beneath the printer! My Canon Prograf 1000 uses inexpensive replacement purge tanks but the inks are a king's ransom! Another gotcha!
This cave man seems to know a lot about inkjet printers.
Yes, this is a lesser known fact about pre-historic man :D
I looked it up and a replacement waste pad for my ET-4850 is AUD12 and the licence key for software to reset the waste ink counter would be USD10.
I watched videos of how easy it is to open and replace the waste pad. This "problem" is easily and cheaply solved.
The ink tank didnt get the chance to show me the ink cost a FAIL like the Brother one (brother was costing .60 a page for letters RETURNED to Amazon). The Epson print quality was HORRIBLE and the auto feed scanner was not even entry level quality. I broke my rule never buy Epson. I wont do that again. Returned the thing to best buy. These machines were both capabil of ledger size.
I purchased the Epson Ecotank ET-2850 and after 18 months had the exact same problem. It's a piece of junk. I wish I had come across this video first. It's tragic the amount of environmental waste Epson knowingly creates.
Buy once, cry once. I'm going color laser (or LED) with my next purchase and never looking back. Inkjets are a great scam because they're cheap to make, cheap to manufacture ink for, and the ink can be sold at markup; the up-front cost looks low, which to most people reads "I don't print a lot, that's for me!" Damn shame.
Ecotank printers aren't new, Epson released them like 5 years ago.
Ink tubes are in the inkjet market for 2 decades at least (HP2000C was one of the first) and pose no clogging risks in comparison with cartridges.
Flush and purging is an inkjet feature since the inception of the technology itself.
Cartridge-based printers are underpriced because the profit comes from the chipped cartridges. That doesn't make tank printers overpriced, just honestly priced.
I can replace the ink absorbers on my Ecotank and reset the counter. Canon models offer the same option.
Just to clarify a few things.
By new, I mean comparatively new in relation to ink cartridges.
I am aware ink tubes have been around for a while, but in this application they are causing more ink to be purged. This is clear as ink cartridge printer can print for decades without requiring an absorber to be changed, whereas the ink tank printer absorbers are filling up within 1-2 years.
As I understand it Epson's "Maintenance Reset Utility can only be used once and will allow printing for a short period of time." If you would like to read more about this, Epson have all this information on their website. epson.com/Support/wa00369
While you may be able to change your ink absorbers and reset the counters, this is outside of the ability and inclination of a larger number of end users. The only software that can reset the counter is made by a third party to Epson, is chargeable and is not approved by Epson.
The fact Epson have gone to the lengths to write this support article (epson.com/Support/wa00369), would indicate there are many other people who share my opinion.
I'm glad you are happy with you printer and it meets your requirements, but my opinion (which is shared with many others) is that this is an example of planned obsolescence and these are not products I would recommend to my customers, hence the video.
Scam? Never answered that question did you? Are people really confused that a subsidized product will cost less than a non-subsidized product? Not saying the sponge question is not valid, but the rest of this is complete BS. This video is a SCAM. This is a complete BS video that NOBODY should take seriously.
I heard what you said about color laser printers but those have also consumables which are quite expensive: a drum, a toner , imaging kit , you name it. can you recommend an int tanker with easy home repair procedure.
The Brother MFC-J5740DW is a great printer.
i spend 100€ and got a dolument feeder. i was lucky and got the hp officejet 8024e fpr 100€ instead of 150€. By the way on HP Ink Tank printers yopu can change the print head if its not working anymore. it costs about 30€
Have Epson ink tank printer for over 3 years now - yes same one. Mine has waste ink tank (easily replaceable and printer has reset). Spent $90 on ink during that 3 years. Page count is 16,880. Was spending $400 a year for color laser toner. Printer paid for itself the first year. If I just tossed out the printer each year - would be a wash.
Listen the video is 2 years old and really bad information as well. There has always been a reset code for the foam on this printer. Note all the printers with screens have the option in menus. So where is the scam - the guy making this video is the scam.
After many days of researching printers I have come to the sad, but realistic conclusion that there are no good, cost effective, consumer friendly printers in existence. I just need to print documents so I will be buying the absolute cheapest printer I can and when the ink runs out...or the printer dies, I will just throw it out and buy another one. I am done with all this ink garbage that has been going on for decades now.
If all you're printing is documents then it's a solved problem. A B&W laser printer is almost zero cost to run. I print fairly often and have only had 3 printer cartridge changes in about 6-7 years, costing me a total of about £60 as I don't get brand name ones and they are just as good.
Bro just drill a hole in the ink cartridges then refill them manually - it's so much cheaper.
@@xFluingthey still drain the ink on startup, and "cleaning". Something like brother lazer printer is better for printing documents once in a month
There are also Continuous Ink Supply System (CISS) systems that you can retrofit to many Ink Jet printers. So you can buy a cheap Ink Jet printer and add one of these kits and get the features of the "tank" printers, with out the premium price.
This is the best of both worlds.
Before anything else..don't forget...ink dries!!!
The next step ..in a dried out printer..is to do a flush.
Basically flushing your money.
Thank You! After watching your video I now under stand the Ecotank technology. Epson and HP, you are now on notice! We want a Quality product when we by a printer! 😤😡😠☠🏴☠
For me epson eco tank printer are the most reliable and efficient in the market. My L360 got 200,000 page printout. I replace wastepad and timing belt once then reset the counter. One bottle of 664 ink black can print 5000 pages. Ecotank are design to use everyday not for single use. If you print once in a while go for cartridges type so that if the heads clog you can replace cartridges and you good to go.
Can you just keep washing the sponge from time to time proactively and keep the sensor from trigerring? this way it becomes a totally analogue way to avoid this issue! Like just wash the sponge once a fortnight.. or does it have other ways to detect this? Like the sensor is just programmed to trigger when certain ink volume has been wasted to clean the pipes and the sponge full ness is irrelavant?
Gee, I wonder why I am enrolled in the HP Instant Ink program? Haven't purchased an ink cartridge in years. They just come to my door. 😎
today my 9 years old epson L355 just died after its last printed 139000 pages . 4-5 times reset (i cant remember) and waste pad replaced once..worth the money 😃
my eco tank is over 8,000 pages still working on 2nd refill of ink. Screw $40 cartridges that print 300 pages.
Which tank do you have?
Shane, I have an Epson ET-4750 Its still working great almost 10,000 pages on 2 ink refills.
The problem is inherent in the design of the printer and it's not "solved" by making replaceable inkpads. You are still wasting a lot of ink to keep the printer head clean and then at some point it will fail and clog, rendering a working printer unusable for a small part failure.
The swappable cartridge with print head is clearly a better design, since the print heads are the vulnerable part in the printer system. They just need to build decent size printer cartridges which themselves refillable. So you can buy the cartridge, refill it until it gets clogged and then change it. The cartridge then can be expensive as it needs to be. This is basically what you get if you find a inkjet with cartridges that you can "hack" refill, this is the best scenario and this is what should be on the market.
And Jesus said "Thou shalt not buy ink tank printers." Thanks Jesus!
Amen Brother!
Have an Epson L850, a photo printer. When I don’t print anything for say 3-4 days, I need to flush the printer at least 7-10 times to get it right. In fact, I have spent more ink in flushing the printer than printing.
Another scam.
Now I will be purchasing a colour laser printer the price of which is equivalent to my Epson L850.
That sounds far from ideal! Laser definitely seems to be a better solution if you are printing in high volume.
Just over a year, so just outside compulsory warranty, sounds intentional to me.
We need an open source printer.
Edit: Jurien Bay, nice I thought there was a hint of an Aussie accent there.
Is this the case in the EU? I'd expect the much more consumer protecting laws there would not allow for this sort of practice.
IMO, all inkjet printers are a scam, no matter who makes them or how they're designed or what type they are. I bought a color laser printer 10 years ago and it has worked perfectly ever since. I only ever had to change the black toner once in that time.
Inkjet Cartridges directly on the print head carrier are the way to go. Any model with Cartridges or Tanks with tubing running many inches to the printhead are a total disaster for ink usage and especially if you have to clean the printheads.
1 year in and I can't fill new ink, it doesn't pour from the bottle into the tank. Probably clogged tubes or something I have no idea. I have tried to fix printers before and failed miserably because of how hard they are to take apart.
To the printers printing credit, I printed easily 3 times the amount of pages before running out of ink with the ecotank than I ever did with traditional cartridges. No contest, but I am a year in and now I have a Printer that either needs to go to repair, Or I have to attempt to dissamble and get to the clog if thats what it is with out the right tools and work space. No Bueno.
If they know there is going to be clogging issues I wish there was a took or something eaiser to access and resolve the issues.
So this is what the cavemen from the commercials have been up to!
Yes, mainly foraging and printer reviews. :D
Thank you for this very informative video I am considering buying one of those Epson ink tank printers and after hearing about the sponge and that it's a limited life and can't even be replaced I'm probably not going to buy it
What would be your recommendation for an ink tank printer? I want to stay under 300. Thanks!
It depends on how you use them. What resolution are you printing the labels at? Cost per page you're better off using a color laser printer. Laser printers can sit months or more between prints without causing misprints or suffering from the same problems that an inkjet will suffer for that much time between prints. Laser printers can produce the same photo quality prints using the right kind of paper. The iColor Dye Sublimation printers would be better suited to your label printing needs. Not only does it print CMYKW for dye sublimation, florescent CMYKW, prints with metallic-looking gold and silver toner, prints with transparent toner as an overcoat / lamination layer to protect the other toner colors beneath it, transparent toner can also be used as a spot color by itself and on top of the other toner colors, plus the printer can use security toner that has a detection wand. Security toners allow you to make credentials, passes, tickets, etc that can be authenticated with the detection tool. For embellishing garments you can use a two-step process known as Direct to Film. Step one is printing the image. Step two is applying an adhesive sheet on top of the dye sublimated image. Then press it on your clam shell or swing away heat press to bind the image to the garment and activate the full color gamut of the image.
iColor dye sub printers allow you to hot swap toners. Their printers have slots for 4 toner cartridges. With hot swap feature you can change between toners easily during the print job. There are also machinery for making laser printed labels with kiss cut functionality. That can wind and unwind to rolls of media at up to letter size I believe. Making it easier for you to make cheaper labels that can be used with semi-automatic to fully automatic label application machines.
But if you still want to go with an inkjet printer for making your labels then use one that has pigment inks across all colors and waterfall inkjet printing capability. Pigmented inks are waterproof, fade resistant with a life span of up to 100 years before fading is seen by the naked eye, smudge proof. That Eco Tank you bought has dye based inks which have none of the features or benefits of pigment-based inks. Epson still makes those I believe. They used to market that as the DuraBright inks. Waterfall inkjet printers lay down ink faster than many high speed laser printers. These tend to be dye based printers. But I think Affinity is working on a slightly slower version that has pigmented inks.
EcoTank printers from Epson is a response to CIS (Continuous Ink Supply). These are external ink tanks that run feed lines to dummy ink cartridges that always read full. There are chip puller tools that let you bypass the security chips of the manufacturer's cartridges to replace them with dummy chips. The chips on the ink cartridge doesn't link to non-existent internal sensors of the ink cartridges to determine how much ink really remains. At best they are programmed with the average number of printable pages. Possibly blind to whatever print resolutions you've been using since their initialization. So the CIS method uses little foam wedges to prop open the top of the printer allowing the external feed lines to run inside of the printer without getting pinched or snagged. Then a little riser is added to the sensor on the printer's lid to trick it into detecting a closed lid when it is pried a open a little bit. All of this was done to circumvent the ink scam you mentioned. Effectively turning a cheap decent quality printer into a continuous printing capable machine. You know how much ink is left just by looking at the external ink tanks. One per color. As the supply drops too low just unscrew the cap of the refill bottle to add more.
Are you a bot? this reads like it was written with Ai.
It’s been just 3 years that I bought the Epson ink tank and now I am having printer head issues and having to buy a new one because of clogging. It was bought for kids use but we can’t be printing everyday or during holidays and breaks. The product needs to be practical.
I reccomend the Brother inkjets, they have been great.
thank you so much can provide the best options for printing quality and eco efficiency please
I bought a Canon G6020 in July 2020 for $300.00. The copy/print count is now 16,950. It's a home printer just for my wife and I. So far there have not been any problems. I've used about 13 bottles of ink total. The ink is cheap enough so I only buy Canon ink rather than the the cheaper ink. I've had great success with Canon and have not used any other brand in a very long time. When I need another printer, I will look at the LED lasers primarily for printing speed. If I'm satisfied with my research, I'll get one. If not, I won't hesitate to buy another Canon MegaTank.
These printers seem to perform better when they are frequently used, I assume less cleaning and flushing is required.
@@turquoisecoastcomputers: i've had a canon 7020 for several years. I'm an infrequent user of color, or used to be. Initially the cheapskate in me wanted to save $, so, I printed b&w mostly. Unfortunately, this meant the color ink didn't get used, resulting in air gaps in the ink tubes from the print heads. The solution - do an ink flush to push in through the tube, getting rid of the air. The flush uses about 1/3 of the ink in the tank, which is dumped on the ink pad. The net result, by trying to economize, I ended up dumping more ink than i used and did not save anything.
So, now I print in high quality color for everything and don't worry about saving color ink. Better to use it than to flush it to the inkpad and get washed down the drain.
You are dead-on - infrequent use leads to air gaps in the tubing with requires massive flushing of ink in the drain.
I Have a tank printer (HP) and I would NEVER go back to cartridges.
The new ink tank printers have a maintenance box that can be swapped easily and inexpensively.
I just want a printer that I can use with little , less cost on ink and that I dont have to buy a new printer to replace it in a year or less. Imagine a printer that lasts 10 yrs, and ink doesn't cost more then the printer ... oh what a dreamer I am :P
ALL THEY HAD TO DO IS MAKE IT SO YOU COULD FILL THE INK CARTRIDGE YOURSELF THEN THESE THINGS WOULD MAKE SENSE. THEY JUST HAD TO MAKE A NEW INK CARTRIDGE THAT COULD BE FILLED LIKE YOU WOULD THE ECO TANKS OR WHATEVER
Can someone suggest me which one of the two is a better choice? I am confused between brother dcp-t520w & epson l3250. I need colour printing or would have gone with the laser printer instead. TIA
I would always recommend Brother over Epson.
These inkpads isn't ink tank printers' specific issue. For example Canon PIXMA MG5xxx (it uses cartridges) had the same "solution" for waste ink.
If its sponge is full, you could send it to service (if that model is still supported), otherwise you could throw your printer away. So I think this matter "behind the scene" is normal for most if not all ink printers. Manufacturer simply hopes you will replace printer with new one before "ink absorber" (Canon's term) is full.
Currently, I'm thinking about Epson L6xxx which uses changeable container (which cost cca 9 USD) instead of this stupid sponge.
The printer do seem to be improving, since this video was made.
Don't know how your video popped up on my feed. But, thank you. While I would love to visit...im in southern Ontario, canada. Lol
I have an 'old' hp 1010 laser printer.which still works, but only on linux. Windows doesn't support it anymore.
Thanks again for the video. My wife has a ep 2650. Ill be looking at the sponge soon. Cheers, jeffrey
Thanks Jeffrey, Good luck with the sponge. Since this video was made, the manufacturers have improved a lot of the issues, making the sponges easier to change.
You are correct to state one should stay alert. You can't decently print quality photographs on a laser printer, though. I think one should have a deeper look at the scam of printer cartridges, control chips, and deskjet printer good practices. Everything starts to fall apart once people messes with cheap photo paper and inks, or leaves their inkjet printer lie unused for months.
I still feel a lot more at ease with a modern ecotank printer. You should also compare the technology of more recent *tank printers with older ones. What would you say about the ET-8500 and ET-8550?
Yes certainly not detracting from all the other issues with the printer industries. I really like the Brother range of printers, they have been great value and extremely reliable over the years.
So you do not actually have one? These printers are designed to be used, lack of usage would cause excess print head cleaning. Also, you are misinformed, epson has replaceable maintenace box.
Yes, it is great news that Epson have updated their policies regarding these printers since the making of this video, and now offer a service to replace the inkpads. epson.com/Support/wa00369
I checked out your channel, you have a lot of videos, keep up the great work.
It seems strange that you guys would use footage from The Tech Buyers' Guru (ruclips.net/video/6HUazpXWRYo/видео.html) without crediting him. If you did this without permission, that's not cool.
It says it is his footage in the description and there is a link to his channel. The Tech buyers video is also set as a suggested video at the end of this video. I have also added info cards that pop up over the video saying it is Tech Buyers footage and linking to their video.
Bear in mind that at least in the UK, a manufacturer's time limit on the warranty has no force in law. The product has to be free of defects when manufactured and if an inherent defect is present from the beginning, as opposed to fair wear and tear, you can claim a replacement for up to six years.
Yes, definitely worth deferring to your statutory warranty in these cases.
Amazing and insightful video, thanks so much!
Thanks, glad you liked it.
Hi from South Africa. We bought a Canon Pixma Ink Pot printer, which an out of colour ink. We ordered online, and now printer does not recognize it, sends message to purchase genuine ink only. This ink we got is generic, supposed to be compatible for our printer. Is there anything we can do with the ink, or do we need to look for the genuine product.
I have not had much success with non genuine ink, probably best to get the genuine ink.
Echo tank, brought to you by Pfizer!
:D
These Epson tank printers are less than half the price listed in this video, noticed the update on Epson's maintenance policy but nothing on any updated pricing. The ET-2850 is $189 on Amazon as I write this btw.
I just looked now the cheapest Epson EcoTank ET-2850 is $465Aud
The scam is printer manufacturers blocking right-to-repair on ink-tank-printers. Been using Epson ink-tank for many years. Ink-tank significantly cheaper to operate that inkjet. Only issue is the counter that shuts-down the printer when it thinks that the overflow pad is full. The pad is cheap $1 part, but Epson don't supply software to reset the counter. EU should fine Epson for violation of right-to-repair.
100% this is exactly the point. In principle the idea of an inktank is great, but it seems the implementation of it has been purposely hampered by manufactures to increase profit margins.
What's with the ad that you conveniently stuck in your video? The 1st indication that you were biased, was you fumbling around with the product specs and "searching" for negatives. Also, apparently you are unaware that all printers, including the moderately priced photo printers from 600 to a few thousand, have clogging issues if you don't regularly print...this includes ink cartridge systems...cartridge ink is several times more expensive than bulk ink bottles. And, most all semi-pro and pro photo printers have some sort of cleaning cycle (whether it be fully automatic; or semi-automatic) dumping the waste ink on to a pad; and once saturated/full, that's it for the printer (went thru a Canon pro 10 printer due to this). In the case of Canon; replacing 1 cartridge forces a nozzle clean on all; in some cases, emptying another cartridge. Perhaps you have valid points; but judging from the many reviews of the Epson tank printers by serious/professional photographers, that also use printers; positive reviews are the norm (short term and long term). The best advice you did give, was to not buy a photo printer if it was not going to be regularly used.
I don't have control of the ad's RUclips put in my videos, the ads are added by them not me. This video was made a year ago in response to several customers having the issues outlined in the video. If you read the video description you can see that I acknowledge that the printer manufacturers have addressed a lot of these issues. It's not disingenuous, it's just an old video.
Someone recommend me a printer. No scams. Documents 80% of time. Some schematics and blue prints. Some need to be multi color. Some mild photograph level prints on paper only that need to be clear. In Georgia USA. I'm a diy type guy. Don't want any bullish!t. Thanks
www.brother.com.au/en/products/all-printers/printers/mfc-j5740dw
Have an Epson L850, a photo printer. When I don’t print anything for say 3-4 days, I need to flush the printer at least 7-10 times to get it right. In fact, I have spent more ink in flushing the printer than printing.
Another scam.
Now I will be purchasing a colour laser printer the price of which is equivalent to my Epson L850.
That sounds far from ideal! Laser definitely seems to be a better solution if you are printing in high volume.
Has to be the most boringly delivered vids I have ever seen and as for being biased I can only assume you have overstocked on cartridge inkjets and need to shift a few.
As for price, my ET2750 cost £200 and so far has printed 15k+ pages since November 2019 and I have just purchased a refill kit of 4 bottles for a little over £24. Hardly a rip off in comparison to cartridges which contain a teaspoonful of ink if you are lucky at a cost per litre which makes 40 year old single malt whiskey look cheap. Now that is a scam!
Thanks for your feedback. Making RUclips videos has to be about one of the hardest things I have ever done. There is still a long way to go before they are as entertaining and informative as I would like them to be, but I have to start somewhere. It's great your printer is working for you, but as you can see from the comments, there are plenty of people experiencing the issues expressed in the video.
As for my biases, I have very little stock of printers and ink owing to the quality and value dropping over the years. I would actually rather customers buy their printers elsewhere, so my time is not taken up dealing with warranties and issues. If you managed to get to the end of the video, one of my suggestions was to not buy a printer at all (if you have minimal printing requirements) and to use a local community center on the odd occasions someone need to print.
If I had a bias at all it would be in relation to the two customers who came into my shop one week (both were pensioners on a budget) with Epson printers they paid $500 for, that were the exact same model as a $99 printer with the addition of the ink tank. Both these printers had filled their in sponge stopped working after a year and a half, and were then told by an Epson service center that the printer was unserviceable and end of life.
While you have had a good experience with your printer, there are a lot of people paying $500+ for a printer that lasts 1-2 years and print with the quality and features of a $99 printer. That I thought was worth bringing to my customers attention.
What if I would only fill the ink at half instead of full - black & colors - would that reduce all the waste, sponges are less wet and that kind of alignment waste would be reduced?
I don't think that would help unfortunately
Sorry , but all of your footage are from Canon printers and not Epson.
And they (Epson) were already selling printers with replaceable maintenance cartridges a few years ago.
Oke , not all printers have them ,but still if you give info then give the whole story.
This is true, but I don't think people need warning against good printers that don't cause problems.
How about changing the sponge before it triggers the sensor?
At the time the video was made I dont think this would work in some cases.
I think you're exaggerating quite a bit. I have an ecotank l3210 and with a minimum of one to two prints per month we haven't had any issues so far. I think we bought it about one or two years ago, had to do a single black tank refill.
It's good news that your printer is meeting your requirements, but I must say this video was mad in response to a number of customers coming into our shop experiencing these issues. You only see the one printer ( and its great news its working for you), we see a much larger number and can spot trends with issues. It is also worth noting there are a number of people commenting on this video who have experienced the same issues.
That being said, this video is over a year old now and some manufacturers have addressed the issues.
It's not hard to design a printer with an extra tube that squart out a cleaning solution to those printer heads. The printer companies just refuse to make such printers.
100%
If you want to print colour photographs you're basically stuck with inkjet printers either your own or a commercial printing service.
This is true.
best printer channel in de world, greetings from germany